


+1 Rib -2 Eyes

by SurpassTheStars



Series: MAGtober 2020 [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I struggled with this prompt, Jon has many eyes, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Being an Idiot, MAG131: Flesh, MAGtober, but also lacks eyes, day 2: Flesh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26864077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SurpassTheStars/pseuds/SurpassTheStars
Summary: Jon opened his mouth, the static of his Compelling sat heavy on his lips. The corridors weren’t keen on the Eye he realised with a wince as the eyes on his arms blinked and shuddered.
Series: MAGtober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958977
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	+1 Rib -2 Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warnings? Very small mentions of body horror i guess

Jon grimaced as he walked down Helen’s hallway, the pain in his arm pulsating in a way he knew would erupt into searing pain once he left the corridors.

He realised he needed a physical anchor if he wanted to go into the Coffin and get out alive, to some extent at least, and Jared Hopworth was right there, in Helen’s corridors apparently.

“Alright, go in, find Jared and get out. Simple as that.” He muttered to himself. His arm still hurt from the eyes that tried to break through the skin, unsurprisingly trying to See in the Distortion would end up with bleeding eyes that sit on your hands. “A lot harder when everything hurts your eyes.”

“Lookin’ for me, Archivist?” A voice called from behind him accompanied by the sound of disgustingly wet meat and the occasional crack of a bone. “Got a lot of gall to come back here.”

“I need a favour.” He said as he turned around, the shapes and colours of the corridors shifting with him making him wince. “A rib of mine, something solid.”

“Things come with a price, Archivist.” 

“… How about your freedom?” They stared at each other, Jon wasn’t sure either of them blinked but he can’t remember.

“Alright.” The figure of Jared warped a bit, the edges smudged out into the corridor before solidifying. He walked forward, he only got bigger the closer he god and Jon wondered just how far he was. “Come ‘ere.”

Jon eyed him suspiciously. “Right. How do I know you won’t just kill me.”

“You won’t. But I want to get out of here more than I want you dead.”

Jon opened his mouth, the static of his Compelling sat heavy on his lips. The corridors weren’t keen on the Eye he realised with a wince as the eyes on his arms blinked and shuddered.

“If you want my statement that’s gonna cost you more than just a rib.” Jared said, glancing at his arms and then back towards Jon. “You wouldn’t mind losing a couple of eyes, would you?”

Everything in Jon was screaming to say no, to just get his rib and leave for the Coffin. But he was curious, he wanted to know how Jared Hopworth became the Boneturner and he wanted that statement, in the Distortion or not.

“Depends on how many.” He settled on saying nervously shifting his weight as discreetly as he could, nothing good ever came with showing fear in front of avatars of fears.

Jared smiled, his smile was unsettling, nearly animalistic but not in the way the Hunt was; this one bordered on mania, a smile pure of sadistic joy. “Just two.” His low voice sent goosebumps up Jon’s arms, he knew which eyes he was talking about.

“Fine. Statement first, eyes later.”

—————

Jon stumbled out of Helen’s corridors, the pain was blinding, quite literally at that. Inside the corridors the madness of the spiral had overwhelmed him past the point of feeling pain, but now that he was out of it and his senses were going back to being normal, the pain came crashing right back in.

“Jon? Oh god what happened to your-?!” Oh, he’d forgotten that Melanie was there. He couldn’t see where she was, her voice echoed through the tunnel to the point where it was disorientating.

Well, he can deal with that later. He blindly stumbled forward to fully get out of the Distortion’s door, before swaying and passing out.

—————

He woke up to pain and two people talking, although the pain made it too hard for him to focus on the voices enough to know _ who  _ was talking.

“He did that to himself?” 

“Yeah, stumbled out of the corridors looking worse for wear before passing out.”

They were talking about him, that’s nice. He tried to open his eyes and move before groaning in pain and falling limply back down, his head pulsating as blood rushed into his ears.

“Oh- you shouldn't move, sit down.” A hand lightly pushed on his chest, slowly lowering him down until his back was flush against the cot. The voice seemed familiar, but his head was swimming too much to put his finger on who.

He wondered if he could see out of his Eyes, it was obvious that his connection to the Eye hadn’t been severed by his lack of… eyes like he had hoped, perhaps he was far too gone as a human.

The Eyes opened slowly, three on each arm and one right on his Adam’s apple. Seeing out of them was painful in the sense that it was bright, tinted in green, and slightly disoriented.

“That looks absolutely disgusting.” That was Melanie, her face twisted into a grimace, but the Eyes only blinked. She sighed before turning towards the door and said “I’ll leave you to it then, don’t come looking for me.” Before continuing out of the door and into the main archives.

The second Melanie is out of sight, his Eyes all snapped to the other person, Basira, in the room. It was too fast and his head hurts even more now, they all squeezed shut trying to ease the growing migraine.

“So, you enter Helen’s corridors and come out holding a bone and lacking two eyes?” She asked, though it was less of a question and more of a scrutinising statement, one of her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed.

Jon tried to find his voice, his throat felt scratchy. “I needed an anchor.” It came out strained and hoarse.

“And your eyes?”

He cracked a small tired smile. “You could say I was just testing a theory.”

Basira exhaled through her nose letting her arms drop. “Rest up, tomorrow you’re going to explain your little ‘theory’ to the rest of us.”

He nodded to the best of his ability, he could really go for a nap, or seven, right about now. He let his body ease up as Basira’s footsteps walked farther away, this won’t be easy to explain.


End file.
